Toxic (Denazen #2)(91)

He was cautious, eyeing me suspiciously. “I would do anything for you.”

I nodded. “I’m going to ask you to do something for me. Something you’re not going to like.”

He dropped my arm and took a step back.

The tears fell. I couldn’t hold them back. They slipped down my cheeks, leaving searing, possibly even smoking, trails in their wake. Beneath me, the snow-grass shuddered. The sky quaked. Time was coming to a stop. Now or never.

I had to concentrate on each word so hard, I thought my brain might explode. “It’s something you swore you’d never do, but I’m going you to ask to—to do it anyway. Even though it will be hard. It will be horrible. I need you to do this.”

Realization sparked in his face. “They’re not coming. Ginger’s backup.”

“Isn’t this a surprise,” Dad said.

I turned to see him standing on the path behind us, Aubrey on one side, Kiernan on the other. Somehow this time I knew he wasn’t a hallucination. This was the real deal.

“Don’t come any closer,” Kale breathed.

“Do you really want to be the reason she dies, 98?”

I pulled back on his arm. “Remember what I asked you a few minutes ago?” Pale, he nodded. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Or maybe, it had been holding me.

Turning to Dad, I said, “Deal’s a deal. If you let Aubrey heal me, I’ll go with you.”

“No!” Kale roared. Blue eyes wild, he grabbed my face and turned it to his. I knew it wasn’t real—couldn’t be real—but I relished the sensation. “Me! I’m the one who will go. That’s what you asked.”

I should have known he didn’t understand. He’d been too accepting of the whole thing. “It’s not. I want you to let me go.”

Dad cleared his throat. “This argument is really very pointless.”

Kale’s lips twisted, and he actually laughed. At least, I think it was a laugh. He could have mooed for all I knew. Everything was hollow and watery sounding. Staying on my feet was becoming close to impossible. The only thing keeping me up was the aversion I had to the funny snow-grass. It seemed to have gotten thicker. Deeper. It certainly smelled worse. Like death and decay. The smell that emanates from roadkill baking in the summer sun for days.

“You can’t touch me,” he said. “And if you try to touch her, I’ll kill you.”

Dad, unmoved by Kale’s threat, smiled. “Your backup appears to be—late.”

He knew. Never try to lie to a liar. Dad was one of the best. Hell, he’d fooled me into thinking he was a normal lawyer for seventeen years.

“Where are they?” I managed to spit. To me, it sounded something like, Werarhtha, but I hoped the insinuation was clear.

Dad laughed. He obviously understood. “They’re fine, don’t worry. I have employees preventing them from entering the park.” He added, “In a very peaceful manner. I’d say it was very generous of me considering my mood.

“You see, Deznee, I’ve changed my mind. I know if I left here with you now, 98 wouldn’t rest until you were free. Eventually, he’d slip up, and I’d have you both—but that’s too easy as you’ve managed to destroy what little patience I had with you.” He folded his arms. “98 will come with us, and Aubrey will cure you. Those are the terms. If you decide you want the Supremacy cure, you may seek me out, and we’ll discuss it.”

I opened my mouth to object, but a series of earth-shattering coughs shook my entire body. Despite my disgust for the snow-grass, I collapsed. Fluffy, my ass. I landed on the ground with a jar, the stench of rot triggering my gag reflex.

“I need weapons, Deznee. To fight the war you started. Had you not been whoring yourself out to the neighborhood the night 98 escaped, none of this would have happened. I could have happily shipped you off to college, gotten you out of my hair, and moved on with my life. This will solve two problems. I will get my favorite weapon back, and you will learn not to piss me off.” Dad took a step closer. “A lesson you will need to learn if you hope to get the Supremacy cure.”

“No deal,” I snarled, grabbing Kale’s arm and getting to my feet. “Let’s go. We’ll find another way.” Lies. Bitter, rotting lies. But I would have said anything to get out of there. To get Kale away from Dad. To get myself away from that smell. Anything. But Dad wasn’t letting go.

He’d never let go.

“The only one who can stop the spread and reverse the poison is Aubrey,” Dad pushed.

The toxic twins. He had a creepy obsession with touching Sixes. I tamped down another inappropriately timed giggle.

Waving a hand in front of my face, he chuckled. “She doesn’t look good. If you don’t hurry, 98, it will be too late. You’ll be responsible for yet another death.”

Beside Dad, Aubrey flashed a feral smile. “So what’ll it be, 98? Dez—”

“Or Denazen.” Kiernan smiled, revealing several rows of jagged, deadly looking teeth. Her jaw was longer than I remembered, and her skin had a slight sheen to it. Almost scaly.

Hallucination. It was just a hallucination. Not real.

Notreal. Notreal. Notreal.

My stomach rolled—and this time it wasn’t the poison. This is why I hadn’t told Kale to begin with. Obviously I didn’t want to die, but no way in hell did I want him going back to Denazen.